Latest news with #OrleansJusticeCenter
The Independent
3 days ago
- General
- The Independent
Family and friends of escaped New Orleans inmates arrested for aiding in jail breakout
A group of New Orleans inmates who broke out two weeks ago have received help from friends and family who provided food, cash, transport and shelter according to court documents. In the early morning hours of May 16, 10 inmates broke out of the Orleans Justice Center by derailing a cell door, pulling a toilet off its mounting and squeezing through an opening in the wall. Records show how some of the fugitives received aid before and after their escape — including from a number of people named in police reports but not yet facing charges. One former jail employee is accused of driving escapee Lenton Vanburen to a relative's home and helping him FaceTime family the day of the escape. Another friend later offered him a vacant apartment to hide inside. Police officials add many others sent money via apps, lied to authorities during interrogation and messaged or called the fugitives. Some are now held on bonds $1 million or higher and most face the felony charge of accessory after the fact. With eight of the 10 men now captured, authorities are continuing to hunt down convicted murderer Derrick Groves and Antoine Massey, who faces kidnapping and rape charges. Authorities on Thursday raised the reward to $50,000 per fugitive and stressed that friends and family are key to capturing the two remaining escapees. 'We understand that some of you might be reporting a friend, a loved one, a relative and albeit not easy, it is critical to your safety and the safety of the public that you report them,' Jonathan Tapp, special agent in charge of FBI New Orleans, said Thursday. Former jail employee appears linked to escape After the audacious escape in the early hours of May 16, a woman who police described as 'associated' with Groves 'picked up' and transported escapee Vanburen to a relative's residence, the documents show. She then video-called Vanburen's sisters, who came to meet him. This woman — who has not been charged with aiding in the escape — shares the same name as a former Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office employee, according to court records. In 2023, that employee was arrested for bringing a folding knife and a bag of Cheetos containing tobacco and marijuana into the jail. The charges were dropped in part due to the woman's lack of criminal history and she 'successfully completed' a pretrial diversion program, the Orleans Parish District Attorney's office told The Associated Press. The Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office did not respond to request for comment. In a text message to an AP reporter, the woman denied bringing in contraband or aiding fugitives. Separately, authorities arrested a jail plumber they say helped the men escape, but his attorney maintains he was just trying to unclog a toilet. Phone records aid in arrests Several escapees, including Massey, relied on internet phone services to communicate with accomplices and 'avoid detection" by not leaving a trail of cellular signals, police reports say. Escapee Corey Boyd used an internet phone service to message several contacts seeking money and access to their iCloud accounts, threatening to kill one person if they did not comply, court records show. The FBI reviewed months of calls from Boyd's 'top caller' while incarcerated. They then found a brief call from a new phone number the night after the escape and used that to help track down Boyd. They discovered that Boyd's aunt was messaging him on Instagram to help him get food as hid in the apartment where a SWAT team captured him May 20. A victim of abuse arrested as accomplice One of the women accused of helping Massey suffered from years of physical abuse from him, court records show. The woman, who had previously filed a protective order against Massey after he attempted to strangle her, was aware of his planned escape and later misled authorities, police say. She exchanged messages with Massey's 31-year-old sister saying they hoped he "never gets caught." Authorities staked out the New Orleans home of Massey's sister but a search six days after the escape turned up empty-handed. Police learned Massey had been inside the home before the raid and altered and deleted evidence on his sister's phone. Court records show police accuse Massey's sister of lying to them, slowing down the manhunt and forcing them to lose 'critical days and hours' in the search. Authorities appeal to public for help At least seven of the people facing felony charges for aiding the fugitives have ties to Lenton Vanburen, Jr. according to authorities. After alerting two of his sisters by prison phone in the hours before his escape, he instructed they contact 'my girl' and provide her with a 'clean phone' so the two could communicate. The woman identified by police as Vanburen's love interest told The Associated Press she never received the phone and denied involvement in the escape plans. Vanburen's sisters met up with him the night of his escape at a family member's residence where he was able to shower, change clothes and was given toiletries. Another family member later reportedly took him to a relative's home in Mississippi. Vanburen was ultimately captured in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on Monday and two men arrested this week were accused of helping him find shelter in a hotel — paid for in cash — and an apartment undergoing renovation. The Baton Rouge court system had no record of their legal representation. In another case, a 59-year-old Louisiana woman is accused of sending cash to fugitive Jermaine Donald, a family friend, according to her attorney. Lindsey Hortenstine, communications director for the Orleans Parish Public Defenders' office, said that most of the people arrested in connection with helping the fugitives have not yet secured attorneys. Louisiana State Police Superintendent Colonel Robert Hodges said tips from friends and family remain essential to locating the remaining fugitives. 'They're tired, they're looking over their shoulder, looking for resources,' Hodges said. 'I think the advantage goes to law enforcement and we need the public's help to ensure that we keep that advantage.'
CBS News
4 days ago
- General
- CBS News
Cash reward hiked to $50,000 as manhunt continues for 2 New Orleans jail escapees still at large
New Orleans — As the search continues for the last two New Orleans jail escapees who are still at large, several agencies have pitched in to increase the cash reward for information leading to their arrests. The reward has been hiked to $50,000 per escapee, authorities announced Thursday, a hefty increase from the $20,000 amount that had been in place for more than a week following the brazen May 16 escape of 10 inmates from the Orleans Justice Center. Eight of the 10 have been captured. One of the men still at large — Derrick Groves — was convicted of murder for the shooting deaths of Jamar Robinson and Byron Jackson in 2024. The other escapee — Antoine Massey — was being held on charges of domestic abuse involving strangulation prior to the jailbreak. Remaining 2 fugitives may have escaped Louisiana, official says Louisiana State Police Col. Robert Hodges said in a news conference Thursday that while he does not believe Groves or Massey have the resources to flee the U.S., they may have escaped Louisiana thanks to the help from other potential accomplices, and given the amount of time that has passed. Hodges also said Massey and Groves may have also had time to change their appearance, but that time has likely taken a toll on them, adding, "they are tired, they are running out of resources." Officials hold a news conference in New Orleans, Louisiana, on May 29, 2025, to provide updates on the investigation into the escape of 10 inmates from a New Orleans jail on May 16, 2025. CBS News Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill had told CBS News in an interview Wednesday that the two may be in other cities. "They can keep running, but they can't hide forever," Murrill said. Authorities said even some family members of the 10 escapees have called in with tips to help track down the escapees. "Some of you might be reporting a friend, a loved one, a relative," said Jonathan Tapp, special agent in charge of the FBI New Orleans Field Office, during the news conference. "It might not be easy." Hodges dismissed concerns flagged by some members of the public that family members of the escapees could try and take advantage of the reward system to split the money with the inmates themselves. He commended those family members who he said have called in helpful tips. Authorities have received more than 700 tips According to Darlene Cusanza, head of the nonprofit Crimestoppers Greater New Orleans office, three tipsters so far are set to receive awards for their help in arresting three of the fugitives and some alleged accomplices. One person has already been paid at least $10,000, and two more people are set to be paid soon, Cusanza said at the news conference. More than 700 tips from the public have poured in since the May 16 escape, Cusanza said, and the Crimestoppers office has had to open up four more phone lines to accommodate all of the calls they are receiving. So far, at least 14 people have been arrested on allegations they helped the inmates either before or after the escape, including one employee of the jail. From top left, DKenan Dennis, Gary Price, Robert Moody, Kendell Myles and Corey Boyd are seen in a combination of photos provided by the Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office. From bottom left, Lenton VanBuren, Jermaine Donald, Antoine Massey, Derrick Groves and Leo Tate are seen. Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office via AP Investigation ongoing into how escape was carried out Authorities said that in the early morning hours of May 16, the 10 inmates broke out of the New Orleans jail by ripping a toilet from the wall of a jail cell to which they were not assigned, cutting steel bars, and digging out a hole in the wall behind the toilet. The men allegedly crawled out of the hole to a loading dock, scaled an exterior concrete wall of the jail complex and darted across a freeway to freedom. Outside the Orleans Justice Center jail on May 29, 2025. Ten inmates escaped from the jail on May 16. CBS News The men even took the time to write taunting messages on the wall of the cell before they made a run for it, including, "we innocent," and another misspelled, "to easy LOL." Jail staff didn't notice the inmates were gone for more than seven hours, and it took a few more hours after that for the public to be notified. Even New Orleans Police Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick said that, on the morning of the escape, Orleans Parish Sheriff Susan Hutson didn't notify her about what had occurred until after she saw media reports online during a meeting with other managers in her department. "We're all sitting here, and (a staff member) said, 'Have you heard anything about an escape?'," Kirkpatrick recalled in an interview with CBS News. "We were like, 'No we don't know anything about escape.' And then one of the other chiefs picked up his phone and said, 'It's already in the media.'" The Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office has faced sharp criticism for its handling of the investigation into how the escape occurred. Hutson has alleged that for years she had been asking the city for funding to make critical upgrades to the correctional facility, but that she had been turned down repeatedly. A 33-year-old maintenance worker at the jail has been arrested and charged with helping the inmates escape, and Murrill has said more employee arrests could be coming. Orleans Parish District Attorney Jason Williams says his office is combing through jail call logs and cross-referencing fingerprints and DNA samples to ascertain who else working at the jail may have been involved. The Louisiana Attorney General's Office is now leading the investigation into failures at the facility that allowed the escape to happen in the first place. The Orleans Parish District Attorney's Office has also been a part of that investigation. "There's so much that's been troubling," Williams said in an interview with CBS News Monday. "Everything's on the table. I think an unprecedented crisis like this, has unprecedented results." Meanwhile, officials with the U.S. Marshals Service, the FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Louisiana State Police and the New Orleans Police Department said Thursday they remain laser-focused on getting Massey and Groves back in cuffs. As Kirkpatrick put it in her interview with CBS News, "I'm not out to finger point. I'm out with a mission."
The Independent
5 days ago
- General
- The Independent
New Orleans escapee's former principal gives savage seven word response to jailbreak
The former middle school principal of a convicted killer on the run after a Louisiana escape this month has given a savage seven-word response to the jailbreak. In the early morning hours of May 16, 10 inmates broke out of the Orleans Justice Center by derailing a cell door, pulling a toilet off its mounting and squeezing through an opening in the wall, according to authorities. Police have captured most of the escapees, but two are still on the run: Derrick Groves and Antoine Massey. Jared Lamb, a Louisiana principal and internet personality, revealed in a video posted to social media on Tuesday that Groves was a former student. 'And I never lost track of him,' Lamb said. The video shows Lamb walking through the halls of a school and smiling as the song Sunshine, Lollipops And Rainbows by Lesley Gore plays in the background. Lamb said text of the video: 'When the internet thinks you're some bougie private school principal. But Derrick Groves was your former student.' He then puts an asterisk and writes: 'The most wanted of the New Orleans prison escapees,' to clarify who he was talking about. The principal captioned the video: 'Where yat, Derrick?' Groves, 27, was convicted over the manslaughter of two men during Mardi Gras in 2018. He was awaiting life sentences when he escaped. When one commenter on Instagram asked if Lamb's video was based on a true story, he said: 'Yes. I was Derrick's middle school principal.' Lamb is currently the principal of a public charter school in Baton Rouge which teaches grades K-10. He has been leading the school since 2022 and is known on the internet for trading in his principal's office for a rolling cart so he can better interact with the students and better help the teachers. Lamb's video has received more than 360,000 likes on TikTok. The two remaining escapees have been on the run for 12 days after authorities say they managed to climb through a hole in a cell wall, get into the jail's supply loading bay, use blankets to scale another wall and run across a highway to flee into the New Orleans area. 'A review of the physical security infrastructure revealed signs of tampering,' the sheriff's office told The Independent. 'Prior to the escape, steel bars protecting plumbing fixtures were intact,' the office said. 'After the escape, at least one steel bar appeared to have been intentionally cut using a tool, compromising the integrity of the pod's security features.' A jail maintenance worker and three other non-employees have been arrested as police say they helped the inmates escape. The maintenance worker, Sterling Williams, 33, claimed that one of the escapees threatened to 'shank' him if he didn't aid in their escape, according to an arrest warrant obtained by Additionally, three Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office employees have been suspended without pay in connection with the investigation into the jailbreak.
CNN
6 days ago
- General
- CNN
A promising tip fizzles as the manhunt for a convicted killer and chronic escapee intensifies
CrimeFacebookTweetLink Follow A double murderer and a repeat escapee have managed to evade capture for almost two weeks – leading authorities to believe the fugitives could be anywhere. As of early Wednesday, Antoine Massey and Derrick Groves were still on the run – 12 days after they and eight other inmates broke out of the Orleans Justice Center in New Orleans. The eight other fugitives have been caught – mostly in New Orleans. But two of the most recent arrests happened in Texas. Now, several states are involved in the manhunt for Massey and Groves. A glimmer of hope emerged Tuesday when someone reported a possible sighting of Massey around 8:30 a.m. in Natchez, Mississippi, Police Chief Cal Green said, according to CNN affiliate WDSU. Natchez is in Adams County, about 135 miles north of New Orleans. But that hope faded by Tuesday night. 'We do not believe that the suspect is in our area,' Adams County Sheriff Travis Patten said, according to WDSU. 'That's not to say he wasn't here, but we are saying he is not here now.' Massey was most recently charged with vehicle theft and domestic abuse involving strangulation, Orleans Parish records reveal. But the 32-year-old has a long track record of escaping custody. In 2007, he broke out of a New Orleans juvenile detention center after being arrested on suspicion of armed robbery and aggravated assault, according to A broken lock at the detention center allowed Massey, then 15, and five other juveniles to access metal shackles, which they used to shatter a window and escape, reported. Massey stayed on the run for more than two weeks before authorities found him on an interstate in east New Orleans. Massey has also cut off electronic ankle monitors twice, said Matt Dennis, an employee with the company that operates the monitors, according to WDSU. Court records from late 2023 say Massey had 'tampered and/or removed the court-ordered GPS monitor.' Dennis said he was 'astonished' that someone with Massey's escape history was being held on the first floor of the New Orleans jail – a floor that had defective door locks. 'There isn't an ounce of this man's history that doesn't say 'escape,'' Dennis told CNN affiliate WVUE. Groves, 27, was convicted of murdering two men on Mardi Gras 2018. Groves was found to be one of the gunmen who opened fire with AK-47-style assault rifles 'on what should have been a joyous Mardi Gras family gathering,' the district attorney's office said. Groves was found guilty of two counts of second-degree murder and two counts of attempted second-degree murder, charges that carry a life sentence, the district attorney said. Authorities have 'a lot of leads' and are getting tips from the community, Orleans Parish District Attorney Jason Williams said Tuesday. 'It's vitally important that we catch these fugitives, whether it's Arkansas, whether it's Louisiana. But it's also critically important that we know how they got out and who helped them get out, and we can't wait until they're in custody to do that,' Williams said. 'My office, the digital forensics team, has been scouring through hours and hours of jail calls using some AI software to figure out who they were in contact with the night before, hours before, to figure out where they may have been heading,' Williams said. 'Their circle is tightening, as people who are assisting are being arrested.' CNN's Karina Tsui, Matt Rehbein, Chris Lau and Cindy Von Quednow contributed to this report.
Fox News
6 days ago
- General
- Fox News
Texas video shows high-speed chase that nabbed escaped Louisiana inmates; another alleged accomplice arrested
Texas authorities released video showing the pursuit and arrest of two New Orleans jail inmates who escaped on May 16. Both Leo Tate and Jermaine Donald were arrested on Monday following a high-speed chase that ended in Walker County, Texas, according to the Louisiana State Police. Donald and Tate were arrested by the Texas Department of Public Safety in an operation that included several law enforcement agencies. Video released by the Texas Department of Public Safety shows the suspects' vehicle going in the wrong direction before eventually being stopped by law enforcement officials. Body-camera video shows one of the men being pulled out of the SUV's passenger window by Texas authorities, when he was then re-arrested. The other inmate was pulled out of the car through the passenger door. "Leo Tate and Jermaine Donald were arrested on May 26th after leading law enforcement officers from several agencies on a high-speed chase through the Huntsville area," the Huntsville, Texas Police Department wrote on Facebook. "The pursuit ended near US 190 and Geneva, where both subjects were taken into custody." WATCH: Texas authorities release dashcam video of inmates' arrest Tate and Donald escaped the Orleans Justice Center in New Orleans, Louisiana, on May 16 along with eight other inmates at the facility. Donald was initially charged with second-degree murder, aggravated battery, possession of a firearm or weapon by a felon and obstruction of justice. Tate was charged with simple burglary of an inhabited dwelling, possession of a firearm or weapon by a felon, illegal carrying of a weapon, motor vehicle theft and multiple drug counts. Lenton Vanburen, who also escaped from the Orleans Justice Center, was also arrested on Monday in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. According to WDSU, Daishanae Massey was arrested on Tuesday and booked on a charge of accessory after the fact. Fourteen people have been arrested for allegedly helping the inmates who escaped. Massey is accused of helping Antoine Massey, according to officials. Two men who escaped the facility are still at large:
